"Tloh04" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry & Pournelle)

There was. There were complaints about living space, work duty for postnatal mothers and completion schedules for the fusion plant. Then Cadmann stood, and there was an undercurrent of groans in the room.
He waited it out. Mary Ann saw the pain in his face, saw him decide to laugh it off as best he could.
"Listen-I know that I keep getting outvoted about security, so I'd like to try something different. I know that everyone is up to their ears in work, but a few volunteers, working in shifts, could really beef up security."
Terry Faulkner stood, and Mary Ann watched Sylvia's face closely. Sylvia was a nice lady-bright, hard-working, friendly-but Sylvia and Cadmann shared something that made her feel shut out. Not sex; she was sure of that. But she knew that Cadmann had secrets with Sylvia, secrets he wouldn't share with anyone else, not even his lover.
"Listen, Cadmann," Terry said. He must be in a good mood, Mary Ann thought wryly. Usually he just said Weyland and left it at that. "We've been going around and around on this for more than a month now. I think you should let it rest." There was vocal agreement, and Cadmann gritted his teeth.
Mary Ann leaned across to put a hand on Ernst's wrist. Ernst was trying to decide whether to stand up and wring Terry's neck; he looked up now, and Mary Ann shook her head. He thought it over; nodded.
"I don't want blood, toil and tears," Cadmann said. "I just want a little more security, and one man can't handle it alone-"
"But wouldn't you really like to? Isn't that what you want? An opportunity to play hero?"
Mary Ann saw the anger sizzling in Cadmann's eyes; his fingers gripped the table. He looked down, trying to control his voice. "Terry, that's not what I'm after. There's something going on around here, and I think-"
"I think the chickens are going to be fine-"
Carolyn McAndrews shouted, too loudly, "Oh, shut up, Terry!"
Zack raised his hand. "That's enough, both of you. I think that Cadmann's concern is unfounded but heartfelt. It deserves your respect, if not agreement. If anyone wants to donate time to an informal militia, please see Cadmann after the meeting." He slapped his palm down on the table. "And now, if there is no more business, let's get the lights down and start the tapes."
Cadmann sat down, looking at his hands as the mess hall began to reorganize, the chairs turned around to the wall. Mary Ann shook his shoulder gently. "Cadmann?"
He muttered something that she couldn't hear, but it sounded like "Idiots."
The lights dimmed, and as they did there was a general movement in the room-some leaving, off to bed or indoor jobs, and as they left, the rain was a drumming rhythm that washed in through the door.
Mary Ann moved her chair up behind him, stroking the back of his neck, trying to be as close to him as he would let her. He reached up and grasped her hand, holding it too tightly. His fingers were cold.
The wall went blank for a moment. Then the MGM lion roared, and a video copy of the two-hundred-year-old 'Wizard of Oz' began to play, to the cheers of the colonists.
Cadmann squeezed her hand and stood.
"Where're you going?" Mary Ann whispered. "Can I-?"
He shook his head, and in the dark it seemed that he smiled.
Ernst was on his feet. Cadmann pushed him down into his chair (even he wasn't strong enough to do that to Ernst against resistance) and whispered in his ear. Then he was gone into the milling press at the back of the dining hall. Mary Ann heard the door open and shut, but wasn't sure whether or not he'd left.
She cursed herself. You could have said or done something. He's just not a farmer, and he feels like the third glove in a pair . . .
And that thought was depressing. If she hadn't been able to make him feel needed in the six weeks they had been sleeping together, she wasn't sure what she was going to do.

Dorothy and her friends were crossing the poppy field in a flood of yellow Earthly sunlight. There was sudden, inappropriate laughter from the back of the mess hall, and Marnie McInnes said, "How did she get out?"
"Flying monkeys!" a joyful cry from Alicia Clifton. Ernst's teeth gleamed in the flickerlight. Both had returned to a world in which it was all right to be a child.
"Damn!" The veterinarian's curse cut through the laughter. Someone triggered a handlamp, and there was a scream, and a cry of "Turn on the damned lights, somebody. We've got a problem!"
Mary Ann was out of her chair before the lights came up. She worked her way to the back of the hall. A circle of people had formed around one of the calves, and as the light strengthened, she could see that the poor thing was wobbling, barely able to stand.
Blood drained down its legs, and skin hung from its ribs in a fold, exposing the bone. It looked at her and staggered, almost collapsing into her arms, smearing her with water and blood.
A scream split the driving sound of the rain: "The fence is down!" and lights all over the camp blinked to life. Coats were grabbed, and rain hats.
Mary Ann ran out into the mud and the bleeding sky, pulling on her coat as she went. They moved across the compound in a broken wave, running north to the grazing grounds. She splashed through puddles, slipped in mud, blinded by the rain. There was a scream to the left: "I found another one." She saw Jean Patterson struggling with a weak, terrified calf, wrestling it to the ground.
Mary Ann wiped the rain out of her face, tilled her head against the wind and, panting, headed for the swarm of hand-lamps buzzing around the fence. The wire was broken. It was ripped away from the posts, almost as if a jeep had been driven through it. The corrugated metal shelter was a shambles, and the corral was empty.
Desperately, in confusion, she began looking for tracks, spoor, anything. She recognized the wild laugh that came to her lips for the hysteria it was. In this rain, a herd of mastodons could have tromped through, and there simply wouldn't be any trace.
Cadmann was already at the shelter and stirring at the ground. A flash of lightning revealed a mass of blood and tissue working between his fingers. He grimaced in disgust. "No dog did this."
There were more yells, as more of the calves were found staggering in the darkness, braying into the wind. Zack puffed hard as he ran up. "What happened here, Weyland?"
"Hell if I know, and I don't think we're going to find out until morning, either."
"Take the calves over to the horse corral. They'll keep." Zack bent, looked at the metal. The sheeting looked as if it had been ripped with a power tool. "Jesus Christ. What could do something like this?"
Cadmann shook his head, but when he looked up at Mary Ann, there was both concern and vindication in his frown, a mixture that made her feel uneasy.
"What happened here?" Zack whispered again.
"I can tell you what happened," Terry said. Mary Ann whipped her head around at the ugly tone of his voice.
"What happened is that someone's been predicting trouble, and now we've got it. Happy, Weyland?"
Mary Ann wanted to spit in his face, ashamed that someone had spoken aloud the words she was whispering to herself. Instead, she balled up her hands and shouted, "Just go to hell, Terry!"
"To hear your boyfriend tell it, we already have."
Then he turned, walking away into the rain. Mary Ann knelt beside Cadmann, putting her arm around his shoulders.
He was shaking.